Bab 29: Tartarus
Zeus few for a few days before hovering in the middle of the sea. He sent down a lightning bolt into the water and soon enough a yellow submarine appeared. The hatch opened and Law popped out and said "Who are you?"
Zeus was sitting on a cloud and wearing a black cloak with a blank mask. The rest were hovering above him, waiting. Zeus looked at Law and said hoarsely "I need you to get me someone's heart. In exchange I can point you in the direction of what you want."
Law sneered and said "Oh yeah? What is it that I want?" Zeus said "Doflamingo's head." Law was startled and said cautiously "Who are you?" Zeus waved and said "You can call me Dragon. I'm not one of Joker's lackeys. Do we have a deal?"
Law thought for a moment and said "I want the info first." Zeus nodded and said "I naturally don't need to tell you the consequences for burning me right?" Law nodded and Zeus said "A fight will take place on an island soon enough and that island is called Punk Hazard, one of Vegapunk's labs. It's currently being taken over by Caesar Clown, who is working for Doflamingo. Infiltrate Caesar's lab and you are in the heart of Doflamingo's supply chain. Enough?"
Law nodded and said "How do I know you're not lying to me?" Zeus said "I have no reason to lie to you. I could just kidnap you and force you to do it for me no?" Law was silent before saying "Who is it?" Zeus said "Don't worry about it, I'll bring you to him. Tell your crew to follow me." Law told them and jumped on Zeus' cloud.
Zeus and Law, with Law's crew following them and the rest on another cloud above Zeus, moved towards Crocodile.
After a while
Zeus and Law touched down on a ship. A man looked at them before running back to inform Crocodile. Zeus walked towards the main room with Law, the door opened and Zeus walked inside with Law.
Crocodile was sitting in the middle of the room on a chair and said "Who are you?" Zeus flicked a cigarette at Crocodile, who caught it and looked it over before laughing. Crocodile looked at Law and said "This is how you're going to control me right?" Zeus was silent and Law moved "Room!" He moved extremely quickly and reappeared with a beating heart in his hands.
Crocodile looked down and saw the square in his chest. Law handed the heart to Zeus and said "Cooperation ends here." Zeus nodded and said "In 2 years you will meet someone who will help you. Do not leave that place or start your plans until THAT person arrives."
Law said "That person?" Zeus said "You will know when the time comes. Remember my warning. The consequences for not listening is death" Law was silent and walked out of the room, a yellow submarine emerged and Law jumped back inside before leaving.
Zeus controlled the cloud and brought everyone down before taking his mask and cloak off and throwing it in the cloud. He stretched his arms and cracked his neck before running his hand through his hair and slicking it back as he grinned at Crocodile "Long time no see Croc!"
Crocodile laughed and said "Like what you see?" Zeus looked around and nodded "Not bad, but you need more." Crocodile was silent and the agents and Persephone sat down at the table, Zeus put Crocodile's heart on the table and said "This is my way of controlling you. I hope you don't hate me for it, it's just business. Don't worry, you don't burn me, I don't crush it. If you do well, I will give it back to you."
Crocodile was silent and said "What do you want to do?" Persephone, Bonney, and the 5 agents looked at Zeus, they didn't know either. Zeus grinned and lit a cigarette with a crazy expression on his face as he said "How does the King of the Underworld sound to you Croc?"
The assassins and Bonney gasped and Crocodile had the same crazy expression on his face as he said "And you want me to be a figure head?" Zeus exhaled a ring of smoke and said "No. You won't be a figurehead or a puppet. Think of it like a coin." he took a coin out of his pocket and flipped it in the air "You're the dark side and I'm the light side, but ultimately.." he pointed at the coin and an electric air bullet pierced the coin as it fell and it the table.
The CP9 agents' eyes trembled, that was a perfect flying shigan! Zeus picked up the coin and finished "We're one and the same" as he flicked the coin over to Crocodile, who caught it and started laughing.
Zeus smiled and waited for Crocodile to continue. He smoked and Crocodile slowly stopped laughing and said "I'm in, but! I want conditions!" Zeus waved and exhaled a mouthful of smoke, Crocodile lifted a finger and said "I want free reign to make decisions." Zeus nodded and said "Continue"
Crocodile continued "I won't blindly agree to everything you say, if I think it's a poor decision I have the right to veto." Zeus held up his hand and said "Within reason. For both conditions, I have no problem allowing you to grow by yourself. Hell, I want you to grow by yourself, but I want you to keep in mind, I am not your blind backer. I put you in the position, It's MY organization. Until I let you free, you work for me."
Crocodile nodded and Zeus vaporized his cigarette and said seriously "I have rules and conditions of my own. If you don't agree, I will find someone else." Crocodile got serious and Zeus said "First of all, no human trafficking." his tone turned Ice-cold and he continued "If I hear as much as a single person was caught and sold I will kill you and everyone else before starting over. Is that clear?"
Crocodile rolled his eyes and said "Please, don't insult me." Zeus nodded and said "Secondly, if you insist on selling drugs, sell to the wealthy nobles. I don't want regular civilians acquiring and handling drugs. We might be an underground organization but I'm not going to destroy normal people's lives."
Crocodile nodded and Zeus continued "You have free reign to do anything else, selling and buying of illegal goods, devil fruits, gold, etc." he looked at the 7 assassins and whistled, the cloud rolled in and Zeus pulled out a box, he put it on the table and took out 7 snails and gave them to each of the assassins, corresponding to their animal.
Zeus said "These 7 people are my Zodiac assassins, feel free to use them at your discretion. Lucci will fill you in on the conditions, I agreed with him. These are not negotiable anymore. So far there's 7 but there will be a total of 12 in the future and they all have code names. Only you and Me will know their identities." Crocodile nodded and Zeus handed him a series of snails with a black snail in the middle.
Zeus explained "These are the 12 assassin's snails, you speak into the big one and each of them will get the message. It's for missions and important announcements. You get the drill." Crocodile nodded and Zeus piled up crates of weapons, metals, drugs, and a smaller box of devil fruits. He kept the more desirable ones with him, a total of 4. Finally another cloud rolled in and dropped a ton of money in neat stacks.
Zeus looked at Crocodile and said "This is everything I have, in terms of weapons, drugs, metals, and devil fruits. There's also 4.5 Billion Beli, I kept 500 million for myself. Use it as a start and insert yourself into the market."
Crocodile stood up and walked to the boxes before saying "You're not giving me a lot to work with here." Zeus shrugged and said "That's all I got, I kept four fruits with me and the rest are in that box, if I'm not mistaken there's around 7. 10 years in the marines will get you some benefits." Crocodile opened the box and nodded slightly, Zeus handed him a devil fruit encyclopedia and Croc put it on top of the box.
Zeus thought for a moment and handed Crocodile a white snail with a red stripe and said "That's my direct snail. I'll call for updates every now and then, call me if there's anything wrong or important." Crocodile nodded and Zeus said "How are you recruiting?" Crocodile said "Loyalty first. I don't want rats."
Zeus rubbed his chin and nodded before saying "Be very careful. Recruit your executives first and lock the spots." Crocodile was confused and said "Why?" Zeus said seriously "When we get the ball rolling, Cipher Pol will be all over us, trying to turn us into Government dogs. That's why I will go out and get as many reliable people for the Zodiacs and you."
Zeus paused for a second before saying seriously "Crocodile, if you get notified that the government wants to arrange a meeting, do not act alone understand? Tell me and we'll meet them together. I don't trust them at all." Crocodile nodded seriously, he was already a government dog before, he didn't want to become one again.
Zeus tapped his chin and muttered to himself for a bit before looking at Crocodile and saying "Do you still like Bentham?" Crocodile blinked and said "Mr 2?" Zeus nodded and Crocodile said "He's useful, but he's an idiot. Plus he's still... In..." Crocodile's eyes widened as he looked at Zeus.
Zeus gave him a crazy grin and nodded, Crocodile burst out laughing and said "You know, I think we're going to get along just fine!" Zeus chuckled and said "Start preparing and slowly slide into the market. I assume you have connections already?"
Crocodile grinned and nodded before saying "What's the Name?" Zeus looked at Persephone and grinned "Tartarus." he turned to Crocodile and said "Your codename is Hades, mine is Kronos..." Zeus chuckled and said "Just don't use the same naming scheme as last time please."
Crocodile felt his mouth twitch and Zeus laughed before waving "Good luck! Lucci will fill you in on the Zodiac's details. Persephone come with me, Bonney you too." He threw the heart into his cloud and the three left. When they were gone, Crocodile and Lucci started talking.
Crocodile said "You agreed to work for him?" Lucci shrugged and said "We had nowhere else to go, plus he helped us train and hide from the government. We were CP9 before getting defeated by the Straw Hats." Crocodile blinked and said "I was a warlord before getting defeated by the Straw Hats.." they two were silent for a moment before bursting out laughing and shaking hands saying "I think we're going to work together great."
The 5 CP9 agents rubbed their foreheads and smiled wryly. Even Daz Bones scratched the back of his head.
Zeus waved and a cloud floated down before forming into a block between him and Persephone. Zeus reached into his cloud and spoke "You never really talked about your family when we were in the white city." Persephone smiled sadly "They're all dead." Zeus paused for a moment and said "That's okay. How about you join mine?" he pulled out red brother cups and a bottle of Sake.
Persephone was stunned and tears pooled in her eyes as she pulled at Zeus and choked out "Really?" Zeus smiled widely and nodded as he poured the Sake in each cup with two hands.
Persephone stared at her reflection in the Sake and seemed to see herself when she was just a little girl, running around happily with her family. Pirates raided one night and slaughtered everyone, the only reason she escaped was because her parents hid her under the floorboards of her house.
When she came out there was nothing but corpses left, she ran over to her parents and shook them while crying for them to wake up. An old man happened to sail by and smelled the blood, curious, he went to check it out only to find a sea of corpses and a crying little girl.
He brought the girl away and trained her to protect herself and become an assassin, he ran his own organization. Persephone was like the daughter the old man never had and he treated her like a gem. The tragedy happened when the old man died.
A struggle for power broke out between two opposing factions inside the organization, causing the collapse of the organization. Persephone lived the rest of her life going through organizations and leaving when she felt threatened, until one day the mission was a trap and she was caught and sent to Mariejoie.
Persephone looked up at Zeus and smiled brightly, she and Zeus grabbed the red cups and clinked them together before drinking them at the same time. Zeus dropped the cup and the Sake into the cloud and hugged Persephone tightly as she lunged at him.
He patted her back as she laughed and cried, Zeus looked over at Bonney, who's forehead vein count was increasing by the second, and smiled wryly.
Persephone pushed Zeus away and wiped her eyes before saying with a chuckle "Why did you grab my ass, I thought I was your sister." Bonney flared up and snapped "YOU!?" Zeus felt his legs go soft and said "Aiya sister, you really like lightning my back yard on fire this much?"
Persephone giggled and stuck her tongue out, Zeus held Bonney's head with one hand and flicked Persephone's forehead with the other as he said "You want me to drop you off somewhere? I'm pretty sure Kalifa told you the rules, though you are a bit special." Persephone thought about it for a moment and said "I think I can handle myself."
Zeus said seriously "You call me if anything happens, I will kill anyone that even thinks about you." Persephone felt warm but giggled and said "Eh? How am I going to get married if you kill every guy I meet?" she had the biggest smile on her face as she spoke and Zeus thought for a moment before saying "I will arrange it."
Persephone felt weak and leaned on the cloud while rubbing her forehead and saying "Can I take back the cup?" Zeus chuckled and pinched her cheeks as he said "Nope!" Persephone shook her head with a smile and sighed.
Zeus reached into the cloud and pulled out two books, he handed them to Persephone along with a snail and a vivre card. Zeus said "Those two books are for Crocodile and Daz Bones, the snail and vivre card are for you. Needless to say, snail is straight to me and the vivre card is mine. Come to me if you need anything."
Persephone looked at the books and said "Why didn't you give it to them before?" Zeus rubbed his nose and said "What kind of boss forgets to give his subordinates things..." Persephone blinked and exchanged a look with Bonney before laughing loudly. The two bent over laughing and Zeus stood straight with an annoyed look on his face as he said "I'm just trying to save my image."
Persephone and Bonney paused and looked at Zeus before falling to the ground and laughing so hard they started crying. Zeus had an ugly face at the moment as he waited for the girls to stop laughing.
After a while
The girls calmed down and Zeus coughed before saying "Right, anyway Sis I want you in charge of the second group of assassins. 6 and 6 but I don't want you to fight with Lucci's group. Get along well, maybe do some missions with the other but you and Lucci will be the leaders of the assassins."
Persephone nodded and said sweetly "Yes big brother~" Zeus coughed again and looked at Persephone, who winked and giggled. Zeus shook his head and took a deep breath before saying "I'm gonna go. I'll come back at least 1 more time, after that I don't know."
Persephone hugged him and said "Be safe." Zeus smiled and hugged her before saying "You too sis." they broke off and Zeus hopped on the cloud with Bonney before flying away.
Zeus flew extremely fast for a while before floating down towards a deck. Bonney looked around curiously and said "Where is this?" Zeus grinned and said "Scar! Killer! Get our here!" Bonney was confused and jumped behind Zeus when she saw the Kung Fu Dugongs, she shivered and said "What the fuck are those!?"
Zeus laughed and said "Kung-fu Dugongs." Scar and Killer waddled out and saluted to Zeus, who smiled and said "How's your training going?" Scar barked and made a gesture and Zeus nodded and said "Keep working hard. Where's the treasure I told you to get?"
Scar turned and barked and Dugongs brought out box after box of weapons, metals, and devil fruits. Zeus nodded and collected them all before saying "I want you out in the New World now. Time to make your Dugong mark! Hang around an Island called Dress Rosa."
Scar barked excitedly and saluted, Zeus laughed and said "Keep going, soon you will see your master." Scar and Killer saluted and Zeus and Bonney left.
While they were traveling in the air
Bonney suddenly said "Can we stop somewhere?" Zeus was confused and said "Why?" Bonney said angrily "I want to shower! And eat! And shop! You're still in your jumpsuit! AND I'M FUCKING HUNGRY!" Zeus smiled wryly and said "Okay, just stop yelling at me. Jeez, I'm sitting right next to you.." before flying in a different direction.
(Author's Note)
And that's all for today! Next time! More excitement obviously!
You can check out my OTHER books while you wait:
One Piece: Another Chance (Completed)
Saiyan in Marvel (Completed)
My Hero Academia: Quirkless
One Piece: Price of Freedom
One Piece: Shadow King
Another Dragonball Adventure
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